There is a first grader that we have been seeing over the last 3.5 years. She has a left eye that turns in. Her eye turn is partially accounted for by a high farsighted prescription. She was prescribed her first pair of glasses at the age of three with a beginning acuity of 20/80 in the right eye and 20/200 in the left. We have been trying to get the child to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for a surgical consultation. However, due to extenuating family circumstances have been unable to get her to Children’s Hospital. After multiple missed appointments and broken promises, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We started patching her at school this year with the help of patches provide by the Ohio Amblyope Registry and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She is the most enthusiastic and dedicated patching student that we have. She comes down every morning and gladly puts on her patch. We might not be able to fix her eye turn but her vision is now 20/20 in the right eye and 20/40 in the left eye. It is another amazing success story about how the dedication and support of partners can make a difference in one child’s life.
We had a 17 year old high school student present to our clinic for a routine eye examination. Her original complaint was simply blurry vision in the distance and near. We prescribed glasses for nearsightedness. However, upon examining the inside of her eye, it was determined that she had swelling of her optic nerve head. After further questioning, she did admit to having headaches for the last year. She was immediately referred to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital ophthalmology where they confirmed that the optic nerve head looked swollen. She was sent to the ER for an MRI which confirmed swelling of the optic nerve head but no other lesions or masses were detected. She was referred to have a lumbar puncture which confirmed that the pressure of intracranial fluid was extremely elevated. She was diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension, if untreated, it may lead to swelling of the optic disc in the eye, which can progress to vision loss. Fortunately, this student did not have any vision loss but did have the swelling. We were able to diagnose this before her vision was effected. She is currently taking medications to reduce the pressure of the intracranial fluid and will continue care with a neurologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Staff: Dr. Michaela Minichello, Christy Riddell, Lydia Harlan, Dr. Laura Thiemann, Mary Mullins, Cari Van Pelt (Missing: Karen McAninch and Kimberly Roberts)